Jan 5 (SO) Despite the tea industry being at the cross-roads it has enormous potential for growth which will be supported by the Tea Strategy Road map for 2030 initiated by the stakeholders of the industry, SL Tea Board Chairman Jayampathy Molligoda said. Molligoda who assumed duties recently said he is optimistic the perennial and lucrative industry will bounce back from tough times due to the global factors that have eroded its market share and prices in the recent years. more..

Jan 5 (AD) The two women and the man, who were arrested yesterday for brutally assaulting a 13-year-old girl, have been remanded until January 16. They were produced before the Nikaweratiya Magistrate�s Court by Kotawehera Police today (4). Ada Derana broadcast the video contents of the said assault, which was recorded by a neighbor. The girl�s stepmother, who was thrashing the girl with a cricket bat, was then joined by her sister. The latter was identified as a Grama Niladhari. more..

Jan 5 (AD) Vibhajjavada Dhamma Sangayana organized for the continued sustenance of the Buddhism and the donation of Tripitaka Dhamma scripts to 5,000 monks was held at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium today (4). The concluding ceremony of the event took place under the patronage of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and PM Mahinda Rajapaksa this evening. This Dhamma Sangayana was organized by more..

Jan 5 (TM) Cabinet has sought an investigation over the cost of int'l flights operating between Jaffna and Chennai. Minister Douglas Devananda had sought Cabinet approval to investigate the high air ticket cost for int'l flights operating between Jaffna and Chennai. The Jaffna to Chennai commercial flights which commenced in Nov, were hit by high taxes. Alliance Air, a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India, commenced commercial flight operations from Jaffna Int'l Airport to Chennai Intl Airport. more..

Jan 5 (Island) When Angelo Mathews limped off the field in Indore with a hamstring injury during Sri Lanka�s tour of India in 2017, the recovery took months. At that point, the selectors made a call that in a bid to prolong his career, Mathews will only play as a batsman. But 18 months later, the decision has been reversed. Mathews was dropped from the T-20 squad in Aug 2018 and was told to get back to bowling in order to regain his place. Having fulfilled the requirement, 32-year-old is back in India, more..

Jan 5 (AD) UNP MP Ranjan Ramanayake has been arrested by the police. It is reported that he was taken into custody over the possession of a pistol with an expired license. Earlier today (4), the police carried out a search at MP Ranjan Ramanayake�s residence in Madiwela. It was reported that the officers of Western Province South Crimes Division arrived at the MP�s residence at around 3 pm, with a warrant more..

Jan 5 (AD) Bandarawela Magistrate�s Court ordered six parties including the Govt�s Analyst to produce their findings on fatal crash of an aircraft belonging to the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) at Haputale. Accordingly, Govt�s Analyst, SLAF, Department of Meteorology, Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of Badulla General Hospital, the Department of Survey and the Air Traffic Control Room of Mattala International Airport have been ordered to present submissions in this regard. more..

Jan 5 (AD) Former PM Ranil Wickremesinghe is the brains behind Central Bank bond scam, claims the former CBSL Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal. He stated this addressing the media following event held to launch the book penned by him on CB bond scam. Mr. Cabraal said the former Premier was the person who abetted the concealment of the truth about this large-scale embezzlement. Speaking on his book, the former CBSL governor said he has elaborated on how the bond scammers kept more..

Jan 5 (ST) The Govt has decided to put on hold all major projects, including construction of roads and buildings, until the presentation of a budget in August this year, a senior Treasury official said. The decision has been conveyed to ministries on the grounds that no allocation of funds will be available for the projects until a budget is presented. The move would mean that ongoing construction of state buildings, more..

Jan 5 (TM) MoU between SLFP SLFP has been violated, senior SLFP sources alleged. Sources charged that despite the MoU between the two groups stipulating that various positions including ministerial portfolios as well as positions within Parliament were to be fairly shared, the SLPP had failed to do so. Sources also pointed out that the post of Leader of the Hous was to be given to an SLPP member while the post of Chief Govt Whip was to fall to an SLFP MP, but both positions more..

Jan 5 (CT) The final death toll due to the North-East Monsoon rose to eight, from previous week's three fatalities and one individual reported missing, data from DMC showed. The deaths were four from Badulla and one each from Kurunegala, Puttalam, Hambantota and Jaffna. No missing persons were reported by DMC yesterday. Nonetheless, due to the dissipating effects of the monsoons, the number of affected families fell to 170, from the previous week's 20,261; a decline of 20,091 more..

Jan 5 (ST) Switzerland has publicly expressed regrets for challenging Sri Lankan authorities� commitment to due process and for calling that into question over the saga involving an embattled staffer at the embassy in Colombo. Their about turn, embarrassingly coming down a few notches, was spelt out in an official Third Person Note (TPN) Bern sent on Dec 30, 2019 to the Ministry of Foreign Relations. more..

Jan 6 (CT) Australia, known for its natural environment, is under the international spotlight as bush fires are spreading across vast tracts of the country, widely seen as unprecedented for their intensity, scale and timing. Shocking images of this devastation are reverberating around the world, which has already killed at least 18 people, destroyed hundreds, perhaps thousands, of homes in regional areas of New South Wales, Victoria and South Aus & burnt more than 5 m hectares. more..

Jan 6 (CT) The 2010s have been too much of an eventful decade, so much so that nothing stands out in singular prominence. The decade has already been called, and not unduly, the social media decade. This is in due recognition of the extent and the manner of its impacting conventional politics and influencing social relations throughout the last decade. In the early 19th century, when the printing and mass circulation of modern newspapers was beginning in Europe, Hegel captured more..

Jan 6 (Roar) Yech. Not the kind of response any of us would like to have. But the kind of response many who identify as LGBTI face. And it is exactly these kinds of attitudes that Spectrum �a comic book produced by Amnesty International South Asia, is trying to change. Through stories centred on four characters�Manju, Kiruthika, Thenu and Samanali, more..

Jan 6 (ST) The degree to which the old colonial strategy the British employed to divide and rule their imperial conquests has paid off even more than it was bargained for is evidenced by the fact that even 72 years after SL shed the yoke of foreign rule and gained independence, the hot topic of debate presently raging at the dawn of New Year and new decade is whether or not to permit the national anthem to be sung in Tamil as well as more..

Jan 6 (ST) Duplicitous politicians who engage in constitutional games to hoodwink the public must be clearly exposed for the truly shameful creatures that they are. Constitution-making in Sri Lanka has generally been instrumental. Amendments to the nation�s primary text are driven by obvious political agendas. There are rare exceptions like the 17th Amendment to the Constitution (2001) when political parties stripped themselves of power in order to de-politicise the governance process. more..

Jan 6 (CT) Minister Ramesh Pathirana, says a majority of SLPP stalwarts, prefer the Lotus Bud symbol, which gave them two massive victories. "However, other parties may have different views. We think that it is good if we can unite them to contest under the same symbol." Q: What do you think of receiving a Ministry of a very responsible portfolio at the beginning? A: I see this as a unique opportunity given at a unique moment. more..

Jan 6 (ST) For the third week running, the discussion among the trio was about vegetable and rice prices which have skyrocketed. The hapless vegetable seller,  Simon, who unfortunately came around on a day when Kussi Amma Sera was belting out her fury in conversation with Serapina and Mabel Rasthiyadu, got the brunt of the anger over rising prices. �Aei elavalu mechchara ganang (Why are vegetable prices so high)?� asked a furious Kussi Amma Sera. more..

Jan 6 (Island) Never a dull day in this land like no other. On Saturday, the people forgot tele-dramas and reality shows. Instead, they watched a live telecast of the arrest of UNP MP Ranjan Ramanayake, following a search of his official residence. He was released on bail the following day. One can understand if some action is taken against the actor turned politician, Ranjan, popularly known as One Shot, for doing a great disservice to the Sri Lankan cinema, but one is puzzled by more..

Jan 6 (CT) The national anthem is the symbol of a patriot, evoking the love and affection of a child unto their mother that is Sri Lanka. It is therefore one, and it has always been, until 2016 when the Ranil Wickremesinghe led regime, together with former Prez Sirisena, decided that the national anthem should also be sung in Tamil. It was meant to be a step in the direction of reconciliation. Alas! It ceased to have any effect after some time and even more once the TNA revived their demands for more..

Jan 6 (DN) Seven athletes from Sri Lanka who won gold medals during the recently concluded South Asian Games (SAG) are expected to take part at the 9th Asian Indoor Athletic Championships in Hangzhou, China on 12 and13 th February. At the Kathmandu SAG Sri Lanka clinched 15 gold medals which was better than the Indian performances in the SAG. Dilshi Kumarasinghe the 20 year old triple gold medalist of SAG has been included in the team for the 400m and 800m events, while more..

Jan 6 (TM) The ban on the importation of ethanol, one of the main ingredients used in the manufacture of liquor, has caused serious concern amongst the local liquor industry. The ban came as a New Year shock to the industry as it was neither pre-informed nor was a grace period provided to comply with the ban and this is likely to result in a liquor production cut. Issuing a notice on 1 Jan, Minister of Finance more..

Jan 6 (Island) A news item, appearing in The Island of 02.01.2020, says that the loss incurred by the CEB will exceed Rs. 120 billion, in 2020, which, in 2019, was Rs. 85 billion, as quoted by Minister of Power & Energy. He has further said that CEB has been making losses because it has not constructed any large scale least-cost power plants, since 2014. Will he inquire into the reasons for not building new power plants and take punitive action against those responsible for delaying the projects more..

Jan 6 (PTI) The first T20I between India and SL was abandoned due to damp patches on the track, with Assam Cricket Association (ACA) groundsmen failing to prevent the rain water from seeping into the covers. It started pouring 15 minutes before the scheduled time after India skipper won the toss and elected to bowl. The umpires held several inspections but the dampness on the pitch did not allow a single ball to be bowled, much to the disappointment of a strong 35,000 more..

Jan 6 (SO) Dilshi Kumarasinghe has became the new find in athletics when she shone at the South Asian Games held in Kathmandu, Nepal by winning three gold medals in the 800m, 400m and the 4x400 relay events to become the most successful Sri Lankan athlete at the Games. The 20-year-old athlete from Digana in Kandy started her athletics in the most trying conditions as coach Susantha Fernando spotted her talent in more..

Jan 6 (FT) LMD-Nielsen Business Confidence Index (BCI) recorded a massive increase of 75 basis points to register 186 in December � the highest it has been since Sept 2015, according to LMD. As a result, the BCI is almost twice as high as its 12-month average of 99 and within reach of its all-time high of 204, the magazine notes. Nielsen�s Director � Consumer Insights Therica Miyanadeniya says in the latest edition of LMD: �This unprecedented increase has come in the wake of new prez more..

Jan 6 (Island) Leading Sri Lankan exporters who recently had a meeting with new Chairman and Chief Executive of EDB Prabhash Subasinghe, stressed on the need for policy consistency to boost exports from Sri Lanka. This need was pointed out when the EDB chairman met with the country�s leading exporters last week at the Board premises. The exporters were of the view that market access through new and existing FTAs is also priority to increase exports from Sri Lanka. more..

Jan 6 (ST) ICC has rejected a request by lawyers for four Sri Lankans entangled in a match-fixing fiasco to suspend the ongoing investigations until a determination by the Ministry of Sports. The ongoing corruption investigation on former cricketers Avishka Gunawardena, Nuwan Zoysa and Dilhara Lokuhettige are already suspended after they appealed to the Geneve-based Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) against more..

Jan 6 (EN) Keells Food Products Plc (KFP), a unit of John Keells Holdings, is expecting its Krest Ezy Rice branded product line to become a top revenue earner over the next two years as the firm kindles the next big food trend in the country. The firm commissioned a 200 million rupee plant in September to produce the Ezy Rice line, entering a market that is now dominated by instant noodles. �The feedback we have received over the past quarter has been very encouraging,� more..

Jan 6 (EN) Dialog Axiat Plc said it is giving unlimited data to view youtube.com, for 249 rupees (1.7 USD) a month. The package called 4G Video Blaster will allow standard definition youtube video for 30 days. It also includes 3.5 gigabytes of data for other applications. Commenting, Dr. Rainer Deutschmann, Group COO said, �Our 4G Video Blaster unlocks SL�s first YouTube flat-rate, so our customers can enjoy their favourite video content without ever having to worry about their data usage,� more..

Jan 6 (TM) Sampath Bank and DFCC Bank managed to avoid Central Bank (CBSL) penalties with a remarkable reduction of their Average Weighted Prime Lending Rates (AWPRs) in the final week of the 27 Dec deadline. This is noteworthy as the CBSL recently named these two banks, along with People�s Bank, as being likely to face penalties based on their weekly AWPRs as at 20 December. more..

Jan 6 (ST) Ingredients found in Sri Lanka have made taste buds from around the world wanting more of their favourite global brands in chocolates, spice mixes and bakery products. Ferrero Rocher and Mars� Bounty chocolates, Kellogg�s breakfast foods and Vita Coco, McCormick Spices, Mexican cinnamon breads and even Gourmet Spice and Jumbo Spices add spices like Cinnamon, pepper and nutmeg from Sri Lanka in addition to coconut. Former Spice Council Chairman more..

Jan 6 (FT) Minister of Foreign Relations Dinesh Gunawardena will undertake his first official overseas visit since being appointed to the post with a two-day visit to India this week. Ministry official said the visit will be on 9 and 10 Jan. Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa also undertook his first overseas visit after being elected to office to India in late November. Meanwhile the scheduled visit by the President to China has been delayed, official said. No new date for the visit has been given. more..

Jan 6 (AD) MP Ranjan Ramanayake who was arrested last evening (04) has been granted bail, stated Ada Derana reporter. This was as per an order the Nugegoda Magistrate when he was brought before courts earlier today (5). Reportedly, the MP has been released on two surety bails worth Rs 500,000 each. The court has further issued a foreign travel ban on Ramanayake. UNP MP was arrested by Colombo South Crimes Division more..

Jan 6 (FT) Retail experts Borja Borrero, Sergio Wullich, and Utpal Barve from Interbrand Spain, Interbrand Argentina, and Interbrand India are in Sri Lanka visiting existing clients and meeting new customers. EMEA and LatAM Chief Creative Director and Interbrand�s global team member Borja Borrero has led brand projects of global impact for Repsol, Renault, Carrefour, Juventus, and Santander Bank. In Sri Lanka, Borrero is leading the creative projects for LB Finance & Singer SL. more..

Jan 6 (FT) LOLC Holdings has jumped to sixth place in terms of value on the Colombo stock market, following sharp gains of its share price in past two weeks. With Rs. 80.92 billion in market capitalisation, LOLC has overtaken Cold Stores, HNB, Nestl�, Sampath Bank and SLC in market rankings. It is yet behind Distilleries, the value of which is Rs. 82.8 billion. With DIST slipping in its price last week, most analysts expect LOLC to rise further this week. more..

Jan 6 (Xinhua) Port City Colombo, in association with local partners, launched a year-long project to clean up a 5 km stretch of beach it the city of Colombo on Saturday. The project was inaugurated at the Mount Lavinia public beach with the presence of Secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development, Water Supply and Housing Facilities, Priyath Bandu Wickrama, State Minister of Environment Jayantha Samaraweera and more..

Jan 6 (DM) National Movement for Consumer Right said that police should arrest MPs who own illegal betting and gambling centres rather than apprehending others to victimize them politically Head of the National Movement for Consumer Rights Ranjith Vithanage said that his organization is opposed to political victimization while some politicians who engage in grave crimes are allowed to carry out their activities freely. �We criticise MP Ranjan Ramanayake for many of his deeds, more..